I was helping my daughter with a school assignment yesterday. She's a freshman in high school, and had to draw a family tree. So I got out all the records I had available and we got started. We went up my side of her tree first, and she wrote down my name, birth date, birth place, date of marriage, location of marriage, and under "Died," we decided to put "TBD."
Then we covered my Mom's side of the family with any/all of the same bits of information. Moved on to Dad's side where things got a bit more complicated.
My father and his father shared the same name and middle initial. So Dad was always known as "Jr." My grandfather was "Sr." Both are referred to as "Pop-Pop" by their grandchildren. We got their information down then moved up the tree further.
Me: OK, Pop-Pop's father was also Michael K******, but not the same middle initial. Or maybe it was. We don't know. There were four of them.
Em: I thought you said Pop-Pop was "Jr."?
Me: Oh, sorry. I meant my Pop-Pop. Your Pop-Pop IS a "Jr." His father was "Sr." and his father was also Michael K******. That's three.
Em: So my Pop-Pop's grandfather was the first?
Me: No. He was the second. Of the four. My father and his father had the same exact first name and last name and middle initial. The guy before that was Michael K****** but we don't know his middle initial.
Em: Probably "J." OK He's the first one.
Me: No, there was a Michael K****** before him, too. His father. Same name.
Em: Then he'd be Michale K****** the negative first?
I was hysterical laughing for a few minutes. When I could speak again, we filled in all the birth, death, and location information I had, and moved over to her father's side.
She wrote down his name, and I helped her with his birth year, location, etc.
Em: So, what year was he married? Same as you?
Me: /Losing it again . . . / Um, yeah, Em. That's the way it worked back then. We got divorced the same date too.